Mermaid
by rachael54321
Summary: The story follows a character I have invented to take the place of the little Mermaid: Erin/Aeryn. Told in a series of flashbacks and real time. NOTE: Chapter 1 is set pre curse breaking, and the rest are set after the death in the 'The Millers Daughter' imagining that Belle went to Gold after the phone call. Please review, chapters added soon!
1. One: Dreaming

I, Erin Blake am twenty two, orphaned and bored. I had been twenty two for three months, an orphan for twenty one and a half year after my mother had died in childbirth and my father had committed suicide after that because he hadn't been able to bear looking at me because I had her eyes, and I had been bored my whole life. I was restless; I liked to move and I had to move.

Right now I was unpacking my only bag of belongings into a motel in Alamogordo, New Mexico, tiny but different. It was May, and even more warm than it usually was. I might have swum in her Motel's pool if I hadn't needed to rest.

What I called my 'Base Apartment' (the one I kept but was rarely at) was in New York, and I had come straight from there to El Paso, then up in a rented purple car.

I was there to see if I could kick the headache I'd had since, like, late September. It was insane. Completely, utterly insane. I must have tried every type of freaking medication legal in the country to try and kick it.

And then there were all the weird dreams that had come along with the dumb headache which were frankly confusing and downright creepy, mainly about some guy who was kind of sparkly and lizard like with huge eyes and an eerily high pitched voice and a girl who looked like me with brown hair and blue eyes.

I had auburn hair and green eyes. I had glasses which she never wore in favour of clear contacts and I usually tied her hair up out of the way because it annoyed me. The girl who looked like me in the dreams always had her incredibly perfect and shiny hair down and bouncing around her skinny as hell shoulders (although I was hardly huge myself) and a ridiculously impractical dress which was big, yellow and puffy.

My cat, Lexi, complained loudly in her box. I hadn't wanted to leave her at home, so she had needed to be packed. The trip had not pleased her. Nothing ever did though, so you know, all was fine.

I'd been writing down all the dreams in some kind of lame-ass journal that my highly spiritual friend Anya had given me before I left. She had actually gifted me most of my stuff, which was awesome because that meant it was all purple because, you know, spiritual. I mean, I had money, I wrote occasionally for the travel sections of papers and I had a published fiction book under a different name to my own, but mainly my money seemed to come from an incredibly endless fund; My parents had left me more money than I would ever be able to spend, and I had a constant second income from thousands of more distant relatives who felt guilty for not having taken me in when I was a little kid.

I'd been adopted by an Asian couple who couldn't have kids, but I had left them aged fourteen, and only gone to see them when they were both dying. It was a double funeral. It was simply doubly as depressing if you asked me. People would tell me I must miss them, and were shocked when I said I didn't. I'd refused to have the funeral for them in a church, saying that they could, but I wouldn't attend if they did. I think I did a pretty good job of shocking everyone possible.

I'd refused to wear black. I liked black. Black was my happy colour, and I was not wasting it on some funeral for parents I never asked for.

I climbed onto the uncomfortable bed still in my shorts and T-Shirt that I had worn on the plane in anticipation of the heat. I was re-reading 'The Fault in Our Stars', my favourite book. I liked to think that after the end the main character died too, to be with the guy she loved. It was a far too romantic idea to be true though, then again, all my ideas were.

I fell asleep after crying again at Chapter Thirteen (it was all downhill from there).

The dream was a little different this time. It always varied, but this time, it didn't feel much like a memory. They usually did.

_I am lying on a bed in what looks like some shop full of oddly random objects. I have been here before, except, I haven't. I always dream of a castle in a faraway land, without fail. This is far too normal and simplistic, and yet, so familiar._

_I sit up, brown hair cascading annoyingly perfectly around my shoulders. I never have control over what I say or do; only what I think._

_And then there's him. The man, monster, beast, whatever from every other dream was there, sitting by where I was lying, and he was staring down at me like my being alive was the most miraculous thing that had ever happened. He smiled as I looked over to him. He looked different but it was plainly him. He looked so human to me._

_"You came…" he whispers, stroking my hair. My eyes involuntarily brim with tears. I sigh inwardly. Crying is for the seriously weak, which I now knew this girl was._

_"After what you said on the phone to me… I couldn't just leave you to die. I have no idea who I am, but somehow you just… I don't know. Please, don't think I remember. It's some kind of subconscious recognition of you. I want to know you. I want to feel about you the way you said I did before, and I couldn't let you die. I would have told you all of this on the phone but… Uh… Well, you kind of hung up on me." I smile, wiping away a tear. Her accent was very strongly Australian, or, you know, mine was since it appeared to be coming out of my mouth. I was born and raised in Ohio. I was American. It was just yet more differences between real (awesome) me and dream (lame) me._

_"I didn't want to hear you reject me." he says honestly._

_"I would never, never do that to anyone." I reply, putting one hand on his cheek. "There is something else." He nods at me expectantly. "The cup? The, uh, the one I broke? It, um, it fixed after you left. It was crazy. I was so scared, but I kept it to give back to you next time you visited, only, you didn't come back."_

_"You didn't want me then." he reminds me._

_"I was confused – I still am. I don't know who you are, but I think I want to." I lean in, still with no control whatsoever and kiss him._

_I have to say that right now I want to be anywhere but kissing that guy. I mean, I'm not shallow and he seemed nice enough, but I'm no slut wither and I barely knew the guy. Plus, he is really kind of old. Well, older than I was anyway. And yet… For some strange reason… I am kind of captivated by this man. Dream me, at least, is completely enamoured with him._

_I stop kissing him (thank God) and just smile. Eventually I break his scarily piercing gaze which I never can quite understand the full meaning of, and reached into a little black bag I have brought with me (or so I assume as I feel like it must be mine and yet I don't recognise it) and I bring out a tiny little blue and white china cup. It has a chip in it. I'm awestruck by how amazingly shitty it is in comparison to some of the things around us, many of which are solid gold and clearly far more impressive than some broken cup. Despite this, the man who I just kissed is looking at it like it is the most precious thing in the world. I just want to exclaim about how overwhelmingly crap it is. I can't of course, which is probably a good thing._

_"One day, I hope you will realise why this means so much to me." he tells me, getting up and hobbling over to a cupboard. I notice he walks with a stick. He puts away the cup and walks back. I really, really want to tell the guy he's coming on way too strong, but Dream Me doesn't seem to care very much. She's kind of clingy._

_"Don't give up on me." I say simply to him._

_Before he can say anything, another guy walks through the door, or, better wording might be, another guy kicked the door in and stormed in next to us. Now this guy, this guy is freaking hot. I nearly swoon. I would have if I'd been in control of any actions, and for the first time I am kind of glad I didn't. Not even the fact that the guy had a hook for a hand on one side would deter me. I just stay inside my head wondering why the hell dream me is not all over this guy like, now._

_The guy who I am fairly sure real me had fallen in love with strides towards the now aptly named 'Other Less Attractive Guy' looking pissed off._

_"You're alive." he says looking extremely murderous._

_"Your attempt to kill me failed, yes." 'Other Less Attractive Guy' says to him. I sigh sadly. I really want to just make 'Other Less Attractive Guy' go away so I can talk to 'New Hot Awesome Guy' without him hanging around being creepy._

_"You got the girl back then?" he asks, nodding to me._

_Oh my actual Lord he is kind of almost talking to me, well, not really but he nodded toward me and wow I'm going to lose it if this guy gets any more attractive which may not be possible but you know, I'm still hoping._

_. Well, him talking had revealed he was British, which was simply amazingly sexy in addition to his already sexy sexiness._

_"When will you learn," says 'OLAG' (I really had to shorten that, OK?). "I will always beat you when it comes to our fight."_

_"Well now, crocodile, I was going to tell you something, but as that would give us an equal platform in the fight I feel that doing so might be a bad idea. I will tell you only that she is back, and bid you, my friend, farewell." He leaves._

_I wake up._


	2. Two: Knowing

TWO

I awoke in the mid-afternoon like I usually did because I was oh so lazy, after having adjusted to the time difference very well; I awoke with my head pounding even more than it usually did. My eyes watered with tears at the pain, and eventually I collapsed onto the floor in a tangle of the sheet I'd slept with because I didn't like sleeping without anything covering me but it was too hot for anything else.

I screamed clutching my head rocking myself back and forth. I really thought I would throw up with the pain of it.

Lexi meowed sympathetically and then curled up in the patch of bed I had left.

I took deep steady breaths and gritted my teeth as the searing pain kept growing. I wondered if I might mercifully pass out soon, but no such luck befell me. I just stayed, staring, wondering if maybe I had something wrong with me. I went through all of the worst possibilities: Brain tumour, Haemorrhaging, Being attacked by invisible ninja ghost wielding knife. All of the normal stuff which caused people to die from pain. I almost wished death upon myself just so that my torment might end there before inevitability became truth and it got even worse for me.

Then a golden yellow light pulsed through the room. I was frozen with terror, and it flung me backwards when it reached me.

And finally, as my head hit the floor, I passed out, gasping for air which seemed to escape me.

I woke up trying to guess what was wrong. I felt so ill; I crawled to the bed and sat trying to steady my breath and closing my eyes. I smiled as I realised that my head no longer felt like some very controlled nuclear reactions were happening inside it.

Oh, and, just a little thing, I remembered that I was not actually from this world, but, you know, from a freaking fairy tale.

The knowledge overwhelmed me so I stayed sitting down with my head between my knees which I had been taught by Anya as a suitable method for combatting fainting if it was imminent, which I felt it was.

I'm not too sure how to explain that after the shock, I felt a great sense of relief. I mean, for one thing, my head had been killing me for so long that it actually felt strange for it not to hurt. It was a good strange though. Also, my extremely crappy life had now been overwritten by memories (which were still sort of coming back to me in jumbled pieces which I hoped would arrange themselves in my head) of a life which I realised was not as much better as it might have been, but was still better than the twenty-two other years.

Oh, and the strange dreams seemed a little clearer.

For instance, I knew the identity of one of the people in the dream, Rumpelstiltskin. He was the older guy from the shop and the frankly terrifying one from the castle based dreams. I wasn't entirely sure how to explain how I knew him though – My memories were seemingly still being relayed back to me in pieces. The whole thing was making me very, very tired, but I still knew what to do. I ran over to my backpack and pulled out my map of the States, sparkly pink dots placed prettily over all the towns and cities I had visited already. My eyes were drawn to the upper right corner, Maine, the state which bordered Canada and had always seemed to be too high up (read cold) for me to visit. Besides, what is even in Maine? It's hardly a tourist destination. I mean, yeah, I had been to Canada a few times, but at least Canada is honest about being cold, has loads of lakes and snow and has free health care. OK, that doesn't really attract tourists, but whatever.

I saw where apparently all of this craziness and idiocy was coming from; Storybrooke. I was immediately overwhelmed by the obviousness and idiocy of the name of the town, because, one thing I was aware of, was that 'Storybrooke' was where all of the other multitude of random characters from books were at.

I sat on the bed unhappily which annoyed the cat. I wasn't too entirely sure what I was going to do – I mean, did I go to this Storybrooke and introduce myself back into their lives with a 'Hi, sorry I was away, anything good happen?'

First, it was time to go over what I knew for certain.

1) My name here was Erin. Back home, because, let's face it, I felt so out of place here that calling somewhere else home was a blessing for me, it was Aeryn. They were similar enough that I didn't have to care which I used. Because it was easier for the idiot mortals here to spell, I decided just to go by Erin.

2) I knew that there had been some sort of curse which had sent everyone here from the world; even though it wasn't the only part I would refer to as the 'Enchanted Forest' as that was the part where I lived. I hadn't paid much attention to the politics of the world, most of the leaders/ Kings and Queens were annoyingly black or white, good or evil for me to pay any attention to. I was also a very self-centred person, and was glad when I remembered that because I was here too and it reassured me that I hadn't entirely lost myself in the transition between worlds.

3) Clearly, most people had been put in Storybrooke, which then begged the unanswerable question – Why wasn't I?

4) I remembered up to being seventeen in the old land – I knew I had been an orphan who, had been turned into a Mermaid as a very young child. I had grown up in the Ocean with the others, and my sense of restlessness had been there too, combated by the fact that Mermaids tended to move around the Ocean.

5) The holes in my memory were seriously beginning to piss me off.

Five years in total were missing from me now, and with every passing minute I grew more and more apprehensive of my ever actually getting them back. Eventually, deciding that the revelation of everything was a little too much for me to continue with my holiday in the heat, and even though I had been looking forward to going sledging on a coloured disc on the White Sands, I decided to pack up my rental car and drive it back to El Paso.

Luckily the car place I had rented from sold cars too, and I was in too much of a state to be bothering trying to get a late flight. I threw a card at one of the guys and bought the least polluting car I could find, a little aqua blue mini. I hated big American cars which generally housed big American people. I saw no need to ruin the environment any more than past generations already had, and my adoptive father owned one which made me automatically biased against it.

It took me a few days to get home to New York, being as, you know, it's on the other side of the country, but I stopped off periodically in Oklahoma after a day and a bit driving and a nap in the car, Illinois, my hometown of Columbus Ohio, and then finally in New York at my home. It only dawned on me when I had got home that I now had, in my possession, my own car, which I had refused to buy before on account of living in New York and the public transport being 'good enough'.

I texted Anya to tell her not to bother checking my crazily expensive Upper East Side apartment, which I hadn't actually wanted, because I was home. She asked if we could meet for coffee. I told her we couldn't; I was dealing with some difficult news. Anya didn't reply.

It was late evening by the time I got back, and the journey with all the stops had taken me almost a week but only because I had not been in a rush. I had needed the time it took me to drive to ponder over whatever the hell was happening. Despite my long journey I felt like sleeping, now I was here and had completed the only goal I had set out, was beyond my reach. I was in a total state of emotion turmoil – I just did not know what on Earth to do. Yes, maybe I was sure of whom I was now, but seriously, there was nobody there to tell me that I was right. I couldn't help but to think that it was maybe just me finally losing it. I mean, finding out that you're a book character is hardly the height of normality is it?

For the first time in my life I was quite content where I was. It dawned on me that maybe I didn't want to be burdened with another life, and that I certainly did not want to be alone in doing it. I would die before I allowed the random and badly named town full, potentially, of other fellow characters from kids' books to become my final resort. I never relied on those people before.

Sadly, after just beginning to deal with it I was hit by a Taxi in the very early spring in New York. I was resuscitated after dying and realised that maybe, just this once, I might be better off being helped.

And, my cat in the back seat of my Mini, I headed for Maine, hoping to God that I was not crazy, and definitely that there were other people there. Perhaps they would question why it had taken me so long to go there, and I would just sigh like I always had at them and wish I could be anywhere but their company.

One question, as I was driving, popped into my mind, much to my immediate horror:

If we were cursed to be here and forget who we are, then why have we remembered but not gone back? And, perhaps, has everyone else returned and I, the girl who waited, am now stuck here?

And, with that in mind I headed for Storybrooke.


	3. Three: Arriving

THREE

I drove until I got to Maine. I didn't feel tired or anything really, just apprehensive about everything. I had set off in the early morning, and, after getting lost a few times, it took me until just before Midnight to get there. The roads were totally silent, probably because the night scene in what seemed like a rather dead little town was non-existent. I saw a sign for a little inn and pulled up on the side of the road next to it, the Texan number plate on my car very clearly different to all of the Maine plates on the local's cars, all of which looked to be from sometime in the early eighties.

I was wearing tight jeans and a tie-dye blue top I had bought in New Mexico from some cowboy shop on my way to the Motel. As I walked into the inn I could tell that I stood out worryingly. I decided that, if I didn't see anyone I knew, I would pretend I was just passing through, at least for tonight.

"Oh hey Belle." said a brown-haired woman who was cleaning the tables. She took another look at me and said, annoyed. "You aren't Belle."

"No." I said, confused and almost as annoyed as she was. "I'm…" I paused, not wanting to give my real name. "I'm Violet." I picked the name because I was looking down guiltily at my top. My mind had gone blank, and hey, at least it was a real name, right, and the colour was in plain sight.

"Sorry Miss, you look a lot like a customer of ours, and a friend of my Ruby's." An older woman walked over and smiled at me. "You need a room?"

I nodded and she led me through a door to another room and over to a book where all of her guests were recorded. There were no names in it except, now, my own false one. She asked my surname, and I, while tempted to reply 'Baudelaire' I rejected it in favour of something less story-book (which, if you asked me was ironic) and I told her it was 'Taylor'. 'Violet Taylor' sounded fine, I hoped.

She handed me a key with a dove on it, telling me that all of her keys had different birds on it, which made me smile. It was a cute little quiet inn, which I usually would have rejected in favour of a busier destination.

"What are you doing in town then?" the older woman asked.

"Just passing through, maybe meeting up with an old friend of mine if they're here." I said quietly. I mean, I had never met this woman in this world or the other, and I was therefore no closer to knowing whether I was going mad or if it was real. It felt incredibly real, but I had always wondered if I could shut my real life out. Perhaps this was just my way of doing so. Come on, it was hardly as though I could ask this poor woman 'Oh, just wondered if you were once in an entirely different world and a character from a kids book. No? I guess it's just me then.'

"We never get visitor here. I mean, some guy crashed in a couple weeks back, but that doesn't really count as a visit." she babbled happily. I nodded, looking around the room. One door led to the little café they owned, the other to the kitchen. I said goodnight to the woman and climbed the stairs to my room.

The next morning I wandered into the café feeling rejuvenated. The old woman (call me 'Granny') was stood behind the counter smiling. I slipped into a booth and pulled out a book, a new one I had picked up in New York called 'Splintered' by A. .

"What would you like, not Belle?" asked the brown haired girl who I knew to be called Ruby. I smiled at her.

"It's Violet, and I just want a coffee please. Make it as strong as you can." I instructed her. Ruby nodded and gave a good looking guy at the next table a grin as she walked off and I went back to my book. The guy tapped my shoulder and I turned around with a smile.

"Excuse me, but are you new in town? I could swear I know you."

"Probably not, unless you travel a whole lot, in which case you may have seen me around the world somewhere." The guy laughed. He was seriously gorgeous. He had dirty blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. Just… Wow. "No, seriously though, I am new here. I've been told I look like," I pointed to Ruby. "Well, she said I look like her friend Belle."

"That must be it. I am sorry to have bothered you. Did I hear your name was Violet?" he asked kindly, sipping his coffee.

"Yeah, that's right. Who are you?" I asked the guy.

"It's David. Here, let me get that for you." David said as Ruby brought over my coffee. I tried to refuse but failed, and thanked him for it. I felt bad. If anyone in the world didn't need their drink to be paid for by someone else then it was me. "Now, enjoy your stay here, Violet."

"I'm sure I will, but I don't plan for it to be a long one." I told him slightly regretfully.

"A shame, I should like to see more of you. Here, this is my number, call me before you leave so we can go and get another coffee."

"Are you asking me out?" I asked with a shaky laugh thinking 'Please God let this incredibly gorgeous guy be attempting to get me to go on a date with him'. Like, I mean, all the travel and the doubt would be totally worth a date with this guy. I mean, he was totally and obviously American, I couldn't believe I'd found him in this part of America really because he should have been in mid-America coaching high-school football and married to his high-school sweetheart with one kid and another on the way. OK, I'm stereotyping, but I was only doing so because I wanted to be that high-school sweetheart. Maybe without the kids.

"I would but my love life is kind of complicated." David smiled.

"Well that is preferable to mine – Non-existent. Coffee as friends then, that's good too. You have to let me pay though since you bought this morning." I grinned at him. He nodded.

"Well I'm not going to turn down a free coffee." David joked. "Can I join you?"

"Of course, I seem to be utterly void of anyone to talk to here. Do you guys just hate strangers here or what?" I asked with a light laugh. He chuckled.

"The town is pretty close, and outsiders do tend to upset them. Just lie low for a few days and they will adjust to you. Or, more likely, they won't." he told me with a grin. I rolled my eyes and sipped at my coffee, putting the book back in my bag as he slipped into my booth on the other side to me so we could converse.

"Great. That makes me feel so happy and wanted. I might just move on in a few days, I kind of hate staying still." I told him.

"I don't like it very much here now either. It gets rather boring after a while, I must admit, especially if you're a visitor." David explained. I was suddenly kind of disappointed that this didn't count as a date, or a pre-date. He was one of the best looking people I had ever met.

"I can't imagine it being much more exciting if you live here." I stated. He pulled a face.

"It is occasionally. There often seems to be something odd going on here, but, as a visitor, I don't think it will have anything much to do with you." I sighed, feigning disappointment. "I know it kind of sucks, but you should stick around. You might like it here." he told me with a hopeful expression. I shook my head.

"Well, you, the only decent looking person I have met here and you don't like it here and that really speaks volumes to me. Plus, for God knows what reason because, let's face it, we both know I'm hot; you refuse to take me out on a date, which really puts me off the town in general. I'll stick around if you take me out." I told him playfully.

"I thought we were doing that as friends?" he wondered, smiling at me. I rolled my eyes sighing.

"Yeah, but then I realised how cute you were and how much of a shame it would be for me to let the opportunity slide while it presented itself here." I said only half joking.

"Thank you for that, and I mean, you are stunning, but I can't lead you on like that. I'm actually married to a woman who's going through some difficulties at the moment about something she's done – I won't bore you with the details. I'm sorry though, I hope you didn't get the wrong idea." He sounded extremely apologetic. I shrugged it off.

"Of course not, it was a bit of a blind stab in the dark anyway, and you made it perfectly clear it wasn't a date."

"If it wasn't for her it would have been." I laughed in disbelief.

We chatted for a long while before he eventually told me that he had a job at the animal shelter and that he had to get there before it got too late. He told me to call him so we could go out soon, and I signalled Ruby to get me another coffee as I took out my book. I saw David outside talking heatedly with a woman with short black hair and hazel eyes, and I assumed that this was his wife. The woman did look quite troubled I noted.

Even with my odd fairy-tale type memories I did not remember ever meeting the lovely David, and, while an enjoyable conversation, nothing he had said made me less or more sure about how right or wrong I was about everything. Still, I had forgotten five years, and he was strangely familiar, which didn't explain that, if I had known him in the old world, why hadn't he known me?


	4. Four: Wondering

FOUR

The people of Storybrooke were more than a little strange, I found on my first day. Most of them, upon meeting me did not wish me a good stay, instead a short one. I question continuously why they would want me out, and, if I met someone who I felt I could challenge and asked them, most replied 'Well, for a city girl like you our little town will grow dull quickly'. I often assured them it wouldn't and with a haughty glance I would walk away.

Meanwhile, David and I had actually met for coffee that afternoon. I was advising him using some very restricted knowledge on his wives psychology. I hadn't met the woman in person yet; David said she had taken to her bed.

I was, yes, mildly curious about what was wrong with her, because surely it must be something big because on the occasion I had seen her she had seemed really troubled. I didn't ask David.

"Hey," David said once we had finished coffee. "Why don't I take you around town to see some of the stuff? I know you were wandering around all morning, but I promise to find you some fun places to go. I mean, we have a bar on the outskirts I can take you to later." That made me happy. I like bars.

"Yeah, that would be awesome. Do you want to go for a walk around first?" I asked happily. He nodded and we got up. As promised, I paid for the coffee but he told me that letting me pay made him feel bad. I told him that I detested traditional chivalry as I felt it was anti-feminist. I warned my new friend against ever opening a door for me, car or otherwise. He laughed and told me that he wasn't used to acting like that. I welcomed him to twenty-first century America and asked if he wanted fries with that. He seemed confused. I told him that most Americas weren't cultured enough to make other type of jokes. We left with him still sweetly confused.

He took me up the clock tower first which gave me a nice view of the town. I have a really awesome camera. No idea what most of the buttons do and what kind it is, but it was insanely expensive and takes amazing photographs. I have a great one of a whale doing a flip out of the ocean I took on a whale watching cruise off the coast of Scotland.

I took pictures of David too, a few of him just staring wistfully out of the tower which I changed into black and white. In my favourite he's side on just staring down into the town with a sad little half smile playing on his handsome features. A crow sits on the railing next to him in the picture. I showed him every picture I had taken but that one. I never showed people pictures I was genuinely proud of. I gave him the camera to take some pictures too. He took a few of me, I noticed, which was sweet of him. I have no pictures of me because I travel on my own. I thought that it might be nice to have a few at least. We left the tower after about half an hour of sitting, chatting and picture taking.

We walked around the town because, and I quote myself here: 'Bars are way too depressing in the daylight.' We were walking literally around the edge of the town when I saw a little pawn shop and wanted to go in to see if I could find a bargain. David attempted to advise me against it telling me that the guy who owned the shop was kind of a bastard, but I was insistent. We walked towards it before I collapsed.

David got me to sit on the kerb and just take deep breaths. I looked over to the shop we were near and grew cold when I saw who was walking in. It was the incredibly hot guy from my dream with a hook for one of his hands.

I realised with annoyance with myself for not having guessed earlier that actually, this might be the scene from my dream. Feeling both better and worse at the same time I leapt up and grabbed David as I ran towards the shop. He said something to me, but honestly, I was full of adrenaline and I didn't want to hear anyway. I was just totally focused on what lay inside the little shop from my dream, and perhaps if it would hold any answers at all for me.

A little bell rang as we headed in quickly. The place was crammed full of junk and normally I would have liked to spend most of the day in a shop like this rooting for a bargain that would look good in my flat. Today however, was not the time.

"David," I said turning to him. "Either wait outside or go home. I have to deal with something here on my own."

I could tell he wanted to charge in protectively with me but I just glared and shook my head at him, and he left through the front door. That was good. I like an obedient man. I took a deep breath because I knew this was it.

But, before I could confront 'Creepy Dream Guy', 'Attractive Dream Guy' wandered out of the room in the back. I nearly fell over, mostly because he bumped into me.

"Sorry love," he said in a sarcastic sounding English accent, not looking at me. "I didn't realise anyone else was in here. I advise you to spend money elsewhere." I laughed lightly, or you know, tried to make it sound light despite the fact I was kind of nearly swooning. Yes, I am aware that my total brain-block when it came to this guy in particular was in direct contravention with my usual anti-traditional roles stance. It was hardly my fault though. I can't help but be madly in love with this guy. Wow. I really did just go that far, didn't I? Please pretend I didn't just say that.

"Whatever, it's fine." I said, incredibly lightly. I was amazed by my nonchalant tone, mostly so because it wasn't just a mixture of strange incomprehensible noises. He looked up upon hearing my voice.

"Aeryn?" he asked, suddenly caring a whole lot more. I froze, wondering how the hell this man knew me, because, I only knew him from dreams. Maybe it works both ways. You have a creepy stalker like dream about a guy, they have one about you. Isn't there that theory that if you dream about someone, they miss you? I like to think this guy missed me, even though I was entirely sure I had never met him. I could tell, because of the very slight difference in pronunciation (Erin: pronounce as spelt, Aeryn: Air-in. The 'Er' and 'Air' parts were often said differently) that he had used the version of my name I thought was from the other world. I was confused enough that I just nodded staring blindly. "Oh God." he said. "You don't remember me."

I shook my head, too confused to move, and then, once I wasn't, I ran out of the shop.

I found David outside and once again grabbed his hand and made him run with me. I may as well not have, because the man who knew me in the shop hadn't actually followed me out.

"Why are you always running?" he asked me, amused, only once I had stopped running because I judged us to be far enough away that stopping might be a good idea. I was also fairly unfit, and that meant I got tired ridiculously quickly.

"There is always something to run to or from." I answered in what I hope was a mystical and philosophical tone.

"I'll take you to the bar then, and, over your drink of choice, you can tell me everything." I was not sure that I wanted to tell David everything. I mean, I wanted to. I wasn't sure if I could. Talking to the man with the hook was as close as I had got to confirming that what I now judged solely as my madness might in fact be real. Maybe I should tell David. Perhaps he could try and help me through.

I don't remembered what I ordered in the bar, but I sat with David and sipped at it. He gave me a knowing look and I sighed.

"Fine, but please don't make a judgement of my mental health based on what I tell you." He nodded solemnly. "I'm fairly sure I'm a character from a book." We both sat silent for a moment before he sighed a little looking quite angry. I wondered for a moment if he was angry with the government for not having had me committed earlier, because now responsibility fell partially on him.

"Who told you what we were?" David asked irritably. I sat, confused.

"What you are? David, I am trying to tell you about how freaking insane I am. What do you mean 'what we are'?" I demanded.

This time it was David who dragged me up. We walked in silence until we got to a large house. He knocked on the door loudly, clearly fuming with anger. The door was opened by a woman with shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. She took an immediately defensive stance when she saw David approaching, and a rather worried look appeared on her face when she saw me being pulled behind him, and suddenly, an odd look of recognition appeared on her face which she quickly replaced with something more unreadable.

"She's one of us." David said to her. His eyes could have burned through her skin if he had wanted them too, that was how much anger they held.

"I don't know what you are talking about, and I would thank you to get off my property as I will remind you of what your wife did to my mother." She was daring David with her very pretty yet evil eyes to challenge what she had said. I wondered immediately if what David's wife had done to this woman's mother had anything to do with her troubles.

"Oh, Regina, we both know that isn't the issue at hand. Now, tell me what you know about her." David demanded.

"Perhaps if you were asking the right questions…" she replied unhelpfully with a glint in her eye.

"Did anyone who you cursed to be in this world go elsewhere, places other than Storybrooke?" David asked her, more patient than I would have been in a situation with someone so cryptic.

"Only her." she replied with a wicked glare aimed at me. David and I stopped dead.


	5. Five: Learning

FIVE

"What curse?" I asked immediately. Regina, the woman on the doorstep laughed.

"It worked very well, Aeryn. You see, I put all of the people from the Enchanted Forest here. Everyone you meet has a counterpart there. I know that you remember it there. However, your punishment, in order to help me punish someone else, had to be a little different. I needed to isolate you from one man in particular. You can blame yourself if you like, as there were two ways it could have gone. You were with him when the curse struck, and, if only you had held on to him perhaps you could have stayed with him in the blissful oblivion my curse offered you."

"Who is this 'he' you keep referring to?" I asked. Her gaze made me fidget nervously. I detested the way she looked at me like I was a lab specimen.

"It worked so pleasingly well. You see, apart from the memories I allowed you to keep, you forgot everything. It's not only the last five years of your life that are missing, Aeryn. There is a whole lot more. You might want to stick around for a while. I just know you are going to love it here in Storybrooke." The last sentence was the most spiteful thing I have ever heard. I noticed at the same time Regina did that David had grabbed my hand protectively.

"It would seem that you are as disgusted with your wife as I am. I hope you wouldn't leave her for someone prettier, younger, and less murderous." Regina smiled gleefully when she saw that her words had affected David in a way that he shouldn't have let them.

"I will stand by my wife for as long as she needs me to." David said assuredly. I admired the power in his words.

"We shall see." Regina replied swiftly. She took one last look at me. "Aeryn, you were once a friend of mine, so my deal with you will be that once you have cut your ties with people who I have sworn to keep as my enemies I will tell you everything and help you regain what you have lost as best I can. Until then, please keep off my lawn." Regina swung the door shut with a satisfying thud. David turned to look at me.

"So, who were you back home?" David asked me. It occurred to me that he was probably been dying to ask the question since he had found out that I wasn't lying. I was reluctant to tell him as I still wasn't too sure myself.

"I was a Mermaid as far as I know. Like Regina said, I'm missing a hell of a lot of my memories from that world which is kind of her fault. So then, since I told you, who exactly were you?" I asked him, realising that I was actually quite curious about it. He smiled as we continued to walk down a long road that I knew led to the little inn I was staying at. The geography of the little town was commendably easy for a visitor to grasp quite quickly.

"You ever read Snow White?" David asked and I collapsed into a fit of giggles. "What?"

"Please, just please tell me that you were Snow White. I would pay such good money just to hear you say that. David, if you were anyone else I may actually cry. I will hate you forever if you weren't Snow White."

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but no, thankfully for my dignity I was not. I was, and still am, her husband." David explained.

"Oh right, Prince Charming! Of course, how could a guy as handsome as you be anything less than a freaking Prince, right? Hey, if you're a Prince then I'm sorry I didn't let you pay for coffee this afternoon, because you should have as I'm going to assume you are loaded. Also, from now on, do I need to bow when I meet you and address you as your highness?"

"Well, I'm not exactly well off over here in this land; Regina has attempted to make me as miserable as she possibly can. However, I will pay for coffee every other time. While yes, I do enjoy being treated like a Prince; I do believe you are so far below me that bowing will not suffice and that you should probably act as a footstool for the remainder of our time together." I laughed and shoved him playfully, and he did the same back.

"Oh." I said with a sudden realisation. "You're a Prince and I stopped you being all Prince-y when I told you that I would be unhappy if you were chivalrous. I'm sorry." I told him, genuinely feeling bad about that.

"Actually, your stance towards Men being a stronger sex was refreshing. I always have to be the hero, and your beautiful women-power attitude was wonderfully different for me. I often wonder why some women in the old land found themselves entirely incapable of doing anything for themselves."

"Does that include your lovely wife?"

"No," David said with a tone of relief. "No, she was always a free-spirit, perhaps a little less than you are though."

"Can I ask what in God's name she did to that woman's mother which made her hate her so much? I mean, seriously, that kind of hate is really, really rare. It's crazy." David looked down at the ground where he was walking and kicked a can along the street uncomfortably.

"The thing with Regina's mother, Cora happened yesterday, just before you arrived in town. Regina's hatred for my wife, however, runs a lot further back. You've read Snow White, am I correct?" I nodded. I had also seen the Disney film, but I neglected to mention it. Now I thought about it, his wife did resemble the character. I had never really cared for Snow White, always preferring the less helpless princesses. I didn't like the ones who fell asleep at the end of the story, only to be woken up by their loving future husbands. Mulan had always been my absolute favourite film, a girl who will do anything to fight her typical role.

Yes, I am aware that I am a nearly a century too late to be a proper feminist, but I really don't care because I still believe in the cause.

"Well," David continued quickly. "Regina is quite literally the Queen from that story. She is the Queen who attempts to poison her with the apple. Regina will not stop until she sees my wife dead or permanently broken on the inside. Regina, for now, believes to have accomplished this, at least in part. I would never say so to my wife, but I believe that to be true. She is not the woman who I know her to be."

David looked incredibly upset as he stared at his shoes. He picked up the pace.

Eventually, we arrived at the inn after being out all afternoon. I noticed that it had been aptly named 'Granny's' which I thought to be a sweet little touch on the atmosphere of the place. I liked it there. Of all the many hotels, motels, inns and campsites I had stayed at, hers ranked top ten if not only for the truly amazing coffee she served there. Refills were free, I had found out happily that morning after about fifty cups of it.

Granny smiled at me as I wandered over to the counter. David had said goodbye to me at the door because he had to go home and take care of his wife. Her name, he had told me, was Mary-Margret here, which I thought was totally ridiculous. I had never met another person in this century or the last under eighty called 'Mary-Margret'. I wondered cruelly if her stupid name was another ludicrous part of Regina's curse. I then asked myself if maybe I was being a little hard on the woman who clearly had some difficulties. I mean, I did kind of have a crush on David, if just a little one, and perhaps that was just me trying to undermine her if only in my own head. I hated stupid women with attractive husbands who I would like to at least try dating. Yes, it was very much my problem and yes, I am probably clinically insane.

Ruby, who seemed to have taken a great dislike to me, was over laughing with a brown-haired woman in the corner. Her grandmother signalled her over to bring me my coffee. I thanked her politely, unwilling to give her any more cause for dislike of me.

"You see that woman over there?" she asked me. I nearly fell out of my seat when I realised she was talking to me. I nodded as she pointed to the woman whose head was bent over the table. "She's the one I mistook you for last night. Go over and speak to her, she doesn't believe me about how oddly similar you look to her. And, by the way, if you even think about David as more than a friend, I will rip your head off because his wife is a friend of mine. Get it?"

"Ruby, if you don't like me because I was talking to David then I promise you have nothing to worry about. I'm not the relationship type, as you can probably tell."

She laughed a real honest laugh. I grinned, amused at how quickly she had changed.

I picked up the coffee she had decided to make me. I was happy that she at least did not totally hate me and was advising me on how to make friends. I coughed to draw attention to myself and the girl who was reading looked up. Her bright blue eyes widened in surprise.

"I, uh, didn't realise that Ruby was telling the truth. It's like looking in a mirror with nicer hair and greener eyes. I'm Belle. What is your name?" she asked, indicating for me to join her at the seat opposite.

"I thank you for the compliment, Belle. I'm Erin." I told her shortly, and then realised that I might be being very rude. "I recently arrived in town and I'm staying here at Granny's." She looked happy.

This was the girl I kept imagining I was in my dreams, the same as me with different hair and eyes. I wondered just how I was actually imagining her in my subconscious before I had even met her. I also entertained the idea that, while not my memories, perhaps what I had seen upon occasion in my dreams could be something she remembered, begging the question 'Why can I see it too?'


	6. Six: Flashback

_SIX_

_"Sir, your wife's dying wish was for you not to separate your two children."_

_Two men stood in a room, one smaller and dressed very modestly, he was the Royal advisor. The other was larger and dressed very well in rich fabrics. The larger man paced heavily around the nursery in his castle. He was the King; surely there must be some other payment for what he required. He needed to prevent war until he could gather up the men needed, and with resources depleting quickly after the long dry and hot summer with little rain, and a cold winter where nothing had survived. The King was now desperate._

_His wife, Isabella, had died in childbirth of her first child. She had been pregnant with twins, and the second had needed to be forcibly removed from her dead body. Both children had been girls. Isabella had begged him to keep and look after her children as she passed._

_Before he had time to think, he grasped the parchment form the desk and signed his own name._

_With a puff of purple smoke the little imp man - or 'The Dark One' as people liked to remind everyone who made deals with him that he was - who had made the contract appeared. He walked over to the table, simply nodded, picking up the contract._

_And suddenly he was gone, as was one of the twins. The other, who lay in the bassinette in the room, cried until she fell asleep, and for many days after._

_A day later, the imp man appeared next to a little bay in the ocean which shimmered with light. He walked up to the edge of the water and whistled loudly. A flash of colour seemed to flip out of the water and the surface rippled as it approached the man standing there._

_It was a Mermaid – Her hair shimmered in a platinum blonde wave behind her head, streaming beautifully behind her. Her tail was a beautiful gold, indicating her high position in the Mermaid's court, the group of the Mermaids who ruled over the others. She rested her folded arms against a sandstone rock and raised her eyebrows before flipping a stray strand of hair away and giving an expectant look to the imp. She pursed her pink lips with a glare._

_"You," she told him in a melodic voice. "Are five days late. I expected my payment before this."_

_"My apologies," he said in a voice which sounded sarcastic because of his high pitch but could have been sincere. "They were late arriving, and the man toyed with the idea of keeping them for a few hours after their birth. Anyway, you have your payment." With a little swoosh he produced the small child in her arms. The woman looked down immediately dotingly on the baby, and her usually stony face melted._

_"You can go now. Our business here is finished." she told him. With a wave of her hand over the child who was snoozing comfortably in her arms she gave the little baby a tail of magnificent and deep purple which sparkled as the light bouncing from the water hit it._

_"As you wish. Remember the bargain though…" he warned her gently._

_"I know," she said unhappily, looking down at her child. "If she finds you before she turns eighteen she will belong to you once again. She will regain her legs and live on the land and I will lose her."_

_He nodded smiling gleefully and departed. The woman looked down at the baby._

_"Hello my little girl," she whispered contentedly. The baby had the brightest green eyes she had ever seen, contrasting to her own dull grey eyes. "I promise I will look after you as though you were my own. You are all I have ever wanted. I think I will call you Aeryn."_

_With her final words echoing around the cove, the blonde Mermaid, carrying her new child dove under the water to her home._

_"Aeryn!" called a young Merman from further back in the cove. "Where are you going? You have to come back! Your mother said it wasn't safe near the surface!" His green tail flapped unhappily in and out of the water. The girl he was watching and attempting to call back had shimmering red hair which curled in waves effortlessly down her back. She simply turned back, gave him a look of utter hatred and continued to swim off._

_"Go back then. You're only holding me back. We aren't married yet." she reminded him. Just the thought of being tied to this man made her feel sick._

_Aeryn had never been this close to where the water and land met. She perched herself on a rock and watched as the Merman gave up and swam back, undoubtedly to tell her mother what she was doing and where she was. Aeryn decided not to care about what he might be doing, mostly because her having to marry that Merman was punishment enough for anything. She honestly could not think of anything her mother could do to make her life any worse than it was about to become. She did not want to get married or have little Mer-babies with a man she could barely stand to be in the same Ocean as. There was no-one else for her; she was not madly in love with someone else, but she wanted to be. She didn't want to be traded off into another family by her mother because they were powerful._

_She thrashed her tail annoyed on the surface of the water, the splash reaching the surface of the beach. She heard a high laughter which was oddly disconcerting coming from next to her. She turned and looked, almost falling off when she saw the little imp man next to her._

_"Bad day, dearie?" he asked her seemingly sarcastically._

_"You have no idea, strange man who happens to be on the same rock as me." He laughed at her, and she giggled along nervously. She stared out at the sunset over the beach._

_"You know, strange girl who happens to be on the same rock as me," he mocked her. "I make deals with people who are unhappy with their lives." He looked at her, oddly and seemingly concerned with the state of her life. She wondered how he could possibly know she was so upset when she realised that she was crying. She shifted uncomfortably and wiped her eyes._

_"Well, what can you offer me?" she asked him demandingly. He chuckled deeply, and then thought for a moment._

_"You are so quick to decide. You're throwing away your future there, you know?"_

_"Yes. But you are wrong. I can never have a future there. Make me an offer I cannot refuse because I am miserable and if I have to live out the life I have mapped out for me there I may as well not be living at all. Please, help me." the Mermaid begged. The imp seemed to soften a little at her pleading tone. He put one hand on her shoulder and she felt her purple tail shimmering before it changed into a pair of legs, and then back again._

_"I can make that permanent. All you have to do is agree to leave them all behind. You can have no contact, or they will change back to a tail."_

_"What if they find me?" she asked worriedly, a sickening feeling churning in her stomach. She knew she could never truly leave the Ocean behind and if there was any chance of her Mother of Fiancé finding her then she knew that was a thing she might have to do. The imp shook his head at her, clearly rather exasperated with her._

_"I can shield you from them." With that he produced a contract on parchment. "Sign on the dotted line."_

_She looked at him sceptically and grabbed the parchment out of his hands. He gave her a searching look as she read through the agreement carefully, checking specifically for any loop holes which might be of benefit to the little imp man. Finally, she looked up and pushed a strand of her auburn hair back from her face and her bright green eyes met his._

_"I agree." she told him simply, and with that she signed her name in black ink._

_"Wonderful," he said with an exuberant hand gesture and he waved his arm. Suddenly, instead of her purple tail, she had a purple dress. They were also now standing on the beach. "Well, we can't have your new dress getting wet."_

_She looked around, suddenly very lost. She stared out into the Ocean and curled her toes in the sand in disbelief, wondering how on earth she could really be there._

_"Where do I go from here?" she asked him suddenly. He thought over what she had said for a few moments and then smiled at her. This man scared her quite a bit she thought suddenly, but she actually liked him. He had helped her after all for seemingly no personal gain in it whatsoever._

_"You can stay with me until you decide. That's my castle." He pointed at a large building and she laughed nervously, taking his arm and walking towards it apprehensively._

_That night, once his prize was asleep, Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One, walked towards the sea grinning gleefully. The blonde Mermaid who he had dealt with all those years ago wept miserably on a rock, pining for her daughter. She looked up at him with an expression which could only be described as murderous. She swum as close as she could get, promising him endless amounts of things if he would just give her back._

_"I don't think so. She's mine now, dearie." With his final words, he made his way back to the castle._

Sorry this has taken so long, I have just had no time at all the last few days! Anyway, please remember to review, more will probably be up later today! Thanks for reading ^_^


	7. Seven: Hating

SEVEN

On my second night in Storybrooke I woke up terrified, now apparently with some more memories. I remembered a few days before my eighteenth birthday now – An engagement I hadn't wanted and a deal I had made to leave with the same man who had been invading my dreams for so many months now. I told myself to breathe slowly and deeply and I wiped my eyes tiredly. I was pleased to learn that it was early morning because I doubted I would have been able to get back to sleep again that night. I also hoped very much that the random acts of remembering would not be a regular thing, because as much as I wished I did remember everything I didn't want to do it like this. I was, however, now even more determined to meet the man who worked in the Pawn Shop.

Knowing that the café downstairs would be open I decided to pull on some clothes, so I selected my favourite 'Trust Me I'm the Doctor' T-Shirt (which, may I add, nobody got because apparently, Doctor Who isn't big with fairy tale characters) and a pair of grey frayed jeans. I also put on my favourite grey boots and pulled my hair back and put it up in a bun in a big clip.

I saw Belle down there and she waved me over to join her. Upon a slightly closer inspection we were not identical. I had bigger lips and smaller eyes than her, and she had a slightly rounder face than me. Still, at a distance it was identical, and close up we were still eerily more similar than we should have been. She ordered a stack of pancakes for us to share and smiled at me while she asked me menial questions. She was surprised to hear I was from out of town.

"So," I asked after a sip of coffee. "Who were you in the…" Suddenly, Ruby grabbed my arm and pulled me up. She whipped my arm with a dish cloth. "What the hell?" I demanded, annoyed.

"OK, David told me you were from the other world so whatever, but seriously, some people here do not remember. Belle over there crossed the town line which makes people here forget who they were over there. You can't mention it to her, it's too complicated. Her boyfriend, which still creeps me out and you will see why when he comes in to meet her later, is trying to help her remember, but you can't mention magic because all she will think is that you're crazy, which makes her crazy and she will have another breakdown and have to go back to hospital." Ruby scolded me.

"Fine, but you could have mentioned that earlier." I told her with a sigh.

I walked back over and smiled at Belle, apologising and making the excuse that there had been a call for me from a friend back home. She asked me more menial questions like how long I was planning to stay, why I had come, and if I could recommend any good books to her. I kept a look out for the boyfriend, who Ruby had mentioned.

It was only when he entered the café that I realised that he was the man from the shop I had dreamt about, which, really I should have realised because of the way they had acted together in the vision.

"Erin, this is Mr Gold, a friend of mine." He was looking at me, puzzled, and I was fairly sure I was looking at him with a similar expression. Belle seemed oblivious and she slid over to one side of the booth so he could sit next to her. Still looking at me, he sat next to her. Ruby came over to take his order and looked at me with a 'See? What the hell is she doing with him?' type of expression which I forced myself to appear trying to hold in a laugh about. Truly though, I could not care less about his relationship with the girl who looked like me. I was far too interested in the man himself to care. I wondered if he remembered me, and silently cursed Belle for not remembering because I wanted to talk to him badly about everything.

Belle excused herself to go up and pay and chat with Ruby, and I sat awkwardly with her boyfriend or whatever. I tried to open my mouth to talk to him but found myself unable to even say one word. He looked annoyingly calm. Before Belle came back, he leant over and caught my eye.

"Before you leave town, we need to talk." He had a Scottish accent here too. I just nodded and he got up, satisfied that I may or may not come and talk whatever this was out with him, and he wandered over to Belle, laughing with her and exchanging a look of mutual contempt with Ruby before leaving the restaurant. I watched him leaving and was slightly disappointed with the way he had left things here. I honestly wasn't sure how to approach the rest of the problem – Did I go and talk with him today, wait a week or so, or just not go at all and skip town as soon as possible?

Belle wandered back over and refused to take money which I offered her to pay for my part of the bill. It didn't really matter, because I had already slipped a few dollars into her purse after she had left to pay.

"I have to leave to go to work now," she told me happily, which I found odd, because most people hated their work, apart from my friend Anya who worked as a fortune teller and enjoyed it a whole lot because she really believed in some of that rubbish. "You can come if you like. Since I had my accident, I haven't been in, and today is opening day so I need to have to be on top of stuff and I could really use a hand."

"Oh, where do you work?" I asked, going for the less awkward question out of two I had thought of, the other being 'Oh, really, what accident?'

"I'm a Librarian here; it has been closed for a while but I've been really trying to get it to be better again. The people here need to get more cultured – Most of them are kind of crazy because there is so little to do around here. So, what do you say, fancy coming and helping me run things for the day, unless you have anything better to do of course?" she asked me. I shrugged, indifferent.

"Actually, I have nothing planned for today because, as you said, there is very little to do around here. I miss New York actually, it's never boring." I told her. She grinned and grabbed my arm like Ruby had, and pulled me along behind her to go to her work.

The library got oddly busy throughout the day; there were a whole lot of people there for the ribbon cutting and the children from the local school came to look around – Belle told me that their regular teacher was off at that moment in time because she was in a bad state of mind. I guessed correctly that the regular teacher was David's wife, speaking of whom, he came in later, happily surprised to see me doing something useful for once. Belle also had a nice chat with him, although it was rather obvious that she didn't really know who he was. After he left, she turned to me.

"I was hit by a car a few weeks ago, and I have amnesia. I lost about a half a year or so of memories, and apparently I hadn't met David before that. People told me my name is Belle, but I don't remember it being that." she told me regretfully.

"What do you think it is then?" I asked her curiously.

"Honestly, I don't know. I keep hearing people calling names and thinking they're mine, but all I know is it isn't Belle. However, if people will insist on calling me it then I'm not so bothered, it just annoyed me more than anything at first." she explained, before going on to tell me that I could leave and she would see me either later today or tomorrow. I walked nervously out of the shop, wondering what to do next, before I crashed straight into her boyfriend.

Who basically looked like he wanted to kill me for daring to get in his way, which made me really scared because he was basically the most imposing and terrifying person I had ever met.

"Watch where you're going next time." he hissed at me.

"Oh right, so I was supposed to see you through a freaking door? Why don't you watch where you're going random guy who I think I hate?" I told him sharply with a harsh glare. He looked at me angrily and then gave a slight half smile.

"It's nice to know that none of your fire is gone." he told me simply, looking at me in a way I can only describe as adoringly. I honestly thought something was going to happen – I wasn't too sure what, but something. I think I wanted anything to occur just so the moment of tense heat would evaporate and I could go back to loathing him for no reason in particular except that he got to me in a way I couldn't explain. My lips parted slightly and my eyes widened, but, upon hearing the crash of the door opening and seeing Belle emerge, whatever had been between us passed suddenly, and I was back to glaring at him in the same way that he was glaring at me. Belle looked amused as she wandered out to his side, and took his hand protectively.

"You could be nicer to her, you know." she told the man sternly. "She really helped me today." She gave me a little smile as she rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her protectively, yet he still never took his eyes off of me.

"Well," he said thoughtfully. "I suppose that was good of her, but it makes me like her no more. Now, let's go inside, you're freezing." They walked in with Belle turning around and mouthing an apology at me. I shrugged and decided to walk back to the inn for coffee.

The man, Mr Gold, suddenly was beside me. I put on hand on my hip expectantly, but not sure what I was expecting.

"Tell me," I whispered as a cool wind whipped through my hair, blowing it to one side.

"I am not too sure what you expect me to tell you, dearie. I only remember as much about you as you remember about me." he told me with a coy smile. "That being said, I will know it all by the end of tonight, and I very much doubt that you will. I also remember a great deal more of the finer details than you, Aeryn." He pronounced my name as I knew it should be spoken, and I was glad of the darkness that surrounded me because I could feel my eyes welling up with tears, more in frustration than anything else.

"Why did you make that deal with me?" I asked him, trying not to let my voice quiver. He stepped a little closer and leant in to me, as he had before at the table.

"I did it because I needed you out of the Ocean, nothing more." The lack of answer infuriated me, so I simply pushed him away from me, and marched off in what I hoped was the right direction.


	8. Eight: Talking

EIGHT

As if the confrontation with the most infuriating man on this planet was not enough, it began raining on my way home. I genuinely cursed the stupid North Eastern weather as I fumbled in my purse for anything which might keep my dry from the downpour. Swiftly, an umbrella was above my head, and I looked up confused, my hair dripping with the rain water. I met the blue eyes of the man with the hook for a hand, looking down concerned with my state of alone-ness in the rain.

"Bad day, love?" he asked me, seemingly actually worried about me rather than being sarcastic. He seemed to be looking at the tear stains on my face which, even in the rain must have been rather more obvious than I would have liked them to be. I nodded, too tired to lie to him.

"No, I'm just an emotional wreck all the time, and it's pissing me off." I told him. He laughed.

"I would hardly call you a wreck." he told me. He took my arm gently and began to lead me along with the umbrella above my head. I usually would have sighed, pushed him away and stormed off annoyed with him for being too chivalrous because I was an independent woman who didn't need anyone to help her, but honestly, I really did then. It was nothing to do with me being weak, I just needed someone there because I was incredibly upset and the company of anyone would have been very welcome at that time. Eventually I shook his arm off and I sat down on a bench which was soaking wet but I hardly cared. I just couldn't be bothered keeping walking.

"You know me." I stated it rather than asked. "But I don't know you, so, what's your name?"

"Killian Jones, but most people call me Hook now, because of the hand." He waved the arm with the hook on the end slightly, as if to make sure that I had noticed it was there. I wiped my eyes.

"I'll call you Killian, because I like that name. I know we knew each other before, or I have guessed so anyway." I told him. He nodded. "I have to tell you that I don't remember a large chunk of my life, like, five years is gone. I only know up until I was nearly eighteen in the other land."

"It makes sense that you don't know me then, we didn't meet until later, a year or so after you became human. I still remember when I met you… You were crying then too."

I rested my head on his shoulder contentedly, wondering how I could have ever made such an impact on this man that even when I had no recollection of him he still cared enough to try and make me happier and make a second impression on me since the first was so far gone and there was seemingly very little chance of me ever getting it back. He put an arm around my shoulders.

"Great, so I have always been a stupid emotional wreck." I sighed.

"Pretty much, but I like you better like that. You were always so defensive when you weren't crying; you seemed to like cutting yourself off from anyone who cared about you. That was especially me because I really cared so much." he told me. I got immediately annoyed with the 'defensive comment', then realised that it was oddly true and decided to just deal with the fact that this guy clearly knew me all too well. I gave a sort of half smile and closed my eyes for a moment.

I remembered for a moment Mr Gold and Belle and realised unhappily how much he was willing to do for her to remember how much he had loved her, and to remember herself.

I realised that there was generally only one motive behind people doing things for people who needed them around even though they didn't know who they were and it was one I really didn't want to consider just yet, before I even really knew who this man, kind as he was.

The only possibility I could think of was that somehow, this poor man was in love with me, left over affection from the world we had used to live in where I had apparently known him so very well.

And here, I worried that I might be falling, just a little, for him.

He stroked my hair comfortingly, and even though I wanted to make him stop, I couldn't do that, because I didn't want to upset him, because I really liked this man. As if to confirm what I already dreaded, Killian kissed the top of my head sweetly and simply, not meant as a gesture of romance, but more of one of comfort to a girl who was crying next to him. I looked up and shook my head very slightly, and moved one hand up to push some hair out of his face so I could see his eyes.

"I want to remember you." I told him sadly, looking up at him pitifully. He kissed my cheek softly.

"You will, love, in time. I promise, I won't leave you until you do. It is very selfish of me, but I do prefer you this way. I was awful to you once, and I have never forgiven myself. At least this way you will not hate me, as you once did." Killian looked so beautifully regretful.

"I don't think I could ever hate you." I told him, looking away from him, scarily curious about what on Earth he might have done to me in the other world. I did not want to hate him. I worried that one day, when I did remember eventually, that I might have to do just that.

"I will make it up to you one day, I promise. I would do anything for you, Aeryn, please remember that, and I only did what I did because it was what I thought you wanted. I never would have done it if you had given me any indication that you felt the same way as me." Without any warning, he pulled me toward him and gave me the gentlest kiss he could have possibly given me. It was of oddly great amusement to me that he dropped his little umbrella so he could wrap his arms around me. I did the same to him, not wanting to let go for no reason whatsoever. I could not remember him, yet I had this great feeling of love for him which swelled inside my head. He had me pulled so close to him that I couldn't have let him go anyway. It was only when I heard a snigger from above us and looked up to see David looking down smugly that we broke very regretfully apart from each other.

"That was fast." David said with one eye brow raised in total amusement. "I think you better go home, and you had better stay away from her." He warned Killian, who just stood up, taking my hand sweetly. He said nothing, I guessed because he knew me and realised I would defend myself.

"You are not in any position to tell me how to conduct my life, after knowing me all of a day and a bit. I know this might come as a shock to you, David, but not everyone needs to be saved by you rushing in on a white horse. This is my life, and I do not appreciate the invasion of a stranger in the affairs of it, and I would thank you to leave us in peace, because I will do whatever the hell I want whether you give me permission or not." I snapped at him. He backed away, baffled clearly.

"I am just not used to being unneeded. I thought you might need help." he said sadly.

"Well I didn't, and why would I? Why do some men just not understand that women can handle themselves?" I demanded rhetorically, not really wanting an answer from him.

"I was not trying to insult you by inferring that you could not handle yourself, I was just worried about you like any decent person would have been. He is a bad person, and you would do well to stay away from him if you know what is best for you." David warned me. I took a step forward; still holding the hand of a man I barely knew yet had been kissing not a minute ago.

"Maybe you should be focusing on making your wife less crazy instead of trying to be the hero for another girl." I suggested. Killian squeezed my hand supportively, and David attempted to open his mouth in some sort of polite comeback. "Save it." I said and pulling Killian along, I marched away. He scrambled just a little to pick up his umbrella which I might have laughed at had I not been angry.

Killian, who obviously knew me annoyingly well, kept quiet as we walked along. I stopped abruptly and turned to him, frowning. He gave me a puzzled look as I snatched my hand away from him.

"Look, you have to realise that I do not have a clue who you are. OK?" He nodded. "Good, because that also means that you know kissing me like that isn't OK, because even though I feel oddly connected to you, you are still a stranger to me, and therefore the kissing is off the table until I get to know you again. Same goes for any other traditional couple-y activities like holding my hand as we go down the road or whatever else you might be thinking of doing." I stopped mid rant with a whole lot more to say when I noticed how crestfallen he looked and felt like I had kicked a puppy. I wanted desperately to make that look go away so I stood on my tip toes and kissed his cheek. "I want to remember you, I really do. Just help me, and then we can figure this out." I promised.

"I miss you." he told me, in what I would later come to think of as a pathetically sweet voice.

I couldn't think of a reply so I stood up and gave him the quickest kiss on the lips that I could without it seeming like I was lingering and continued walking as he opened the umbrella over us. We didn't speak on the way back to the inn until he started staring at my chest. I crossed my arms over myself because I was slightly self-conscious and I frowned at him with a gesture for him to explain.

"I was reading the words on your top." he said to me. I nodded; satisfied that he hadn't just been staring at my boobs, which I probably would have had to slap him for.

"It's from Doctor Who." I told him happily, then realising that he probably wouldn't get the reference, much like most people in this town. "It's an English sci-fi thing that I liked when I was a whole lot younger. The fact that I am wearing a shirt of it is just proof of how nerdy I am." He looked questioning. "A nerd is just someone… Never mind. I'll make you watch my box set of it one day."

Killian explained that he knew even less about everything here because he had protected himself from the curse in order to take revenge on someone who had taken someone he had lost. I asked if, not being self-centred so much as curious, it was me that was taken. He had put his head to one side thoughtfully and after a few moments answered 'Not originally'. I tried to ask him more questions, but each time I was simply met by silence as he thought through events I could not recall.

I said goodbye to Killian at the door of my room and walked in humming happily to myself. I squealed as I saw the man, Mr Gold, sitting on a chair in my room.

"We need to talk this out." he told me with another murderous expression crossing his face. I nodded sombrely, and took a seat next to the one he was on, saying 'So talk then, man in my room.'


End file.
